SalesGrok

Delivering the "Glengarry Leads"

When people ask me what Reachforce does, I often tell them that we provide technology and services to help Marketing deliver the “Glengarry Leads” to sales teams.

Those who have seen the movie get it – interested decision makers, recommenders, or influencers who need and can afford their products and/or services – but I generally reserve this line for seasoned folks since the show behind the reference, Glengarry Glenn Ross, was released in 1992 – ancient times for lots of professionals in the 21^st century! If you’ve not seen the film, get a flavor here (my favorite scene - rated R for language) or peruse the Cliffs Notes here.

And while every salesperson wants “Glengarry Leads” (and every marketer wants to provide them), attracting, identifying, and delivering this level of lead isn’t easy. Here are the top 5 ways to make it happen:

Know thy Customer. If you met your ideal prospect at a dinner party, how long would it take to figure it out? If you have existing customers, which companies in what industries are producing the greatest revenue? What challenges will you help them solve? What is your unique value proposition? Where do prospects go when they are looking for a solution like yours? Understanding your customer will help you create an effective strategy and supporting programs to grow your market share.

Enhance your Sales and Marketing Data. According to SiriusDecisions, for every 1% of data quality improvement marketing can generate 5-6% of incremental revenue. In other words, the quality of your data directly impacts the results of your campaigns and it’s not enough to simply clean your contact and lead databases. And removing duplicates and identifying “unmarketable” contacts is a no-brainer!

In order to take your programs to the next level, you also need to fill white space and title gaps. According to MarketingSherpa’s 2011 B2B Marketing Benchmark report, more than 70% of B2B purchasing decisions involve 3 or more contacts. How confident are you that you are enrolling the right contacts in your campaigns?

Deliver Compelling Content. Ann Handley at MarketingProfs literally wrote the book on content. Content Rules will help you create content to support Customer engagement from awareness to action (A.I.D.A. – another Glengarry gem!)

Execute! A MarketingSherpa B2B survey revealed that 68% of B2B marketers haven’t defined the stages in the Sales funnel. Partner with Sales to gain total alignment on how a lead flows through the funnel to a ‘closed won’ opportunity. If your company has multiple solutions, make sure to include the “post-sale” funnel to re-engage customers in up-sell and cross-sell activities.

Measure and Tune. With every campaign, benchmark expected vs. actual performance. Invest in the activities that provide the highest return on leads and opportunities per dollar. If you consistently track and refine your results, you’ll be unstoppable! CMO.com published a terrific ROI study that can serve as your guide to continuous improvement.

Will there be a sequel to Glengarry Glenn Ross? Based on box office results, it’s doubtful, but as Marketing and Sales professionals, we can keep the film alive by making the “Glengarry leads” a reality.

Marketing Bonus: The next time you see your Sales colleague at the coffee pot you can say, “Put that coffee down! Coffee is for closers only.”

Getting In Part Deux

What is the key to effective prospecting?  Preparation, preparation and pleasant persistence!  The former means using our resources to identify the BEST targets and leveraging the abundance of information to build a connection with the prospect.  The latter indicates that you will not turn back at the first or second “no”.

In summary, sustained success is something you do not just “kind of” want to achieve but something you MUST achieve. It starts right now with you because you are the master of your destiny and you are the Sales professional that will FOCUS, EXECUTE and DELIVER for your clients and your company!

Getting In

Dale Carnegie once said, “You can make more friends in 2 months by becoming interested in other people, than you can get in 2 years by trying to get other people interested in you.”  Jeffrey Gitomer says it another way, “If the customer says they’re not interested, it means you’re not interesting!”

How many of you have recorded and reviewed your prospecting and discovery calls?  I would bet that it’s fairly slim out there.  How can some salespeople generate new opportunities every week via prospecting while others generate none?  I will submit to you that your results are directly correlated to the extent you are ENGAGING the prospect!